Actually three very different gardens connected by lines of a total of 500 trees, integrated in the green belt surrounding the old town which used to be the location of the city fortifications.
EDIT: Latest development: There is now an agreement that the current work will be finalised, and the net removed, by the end of next week.
I will make sure I am not in Lindenstraße, or even in Berlin, a lot during the next ten days.
During the week 10 to 15 August I will then be able to clean everything and take possession of my balcony again. They did offer to do the cleaning, but I prefer to do that myself. I really am not in the mood to have strangers invading my home these days and I do not want to talk to anybody.
I sincerely hope that these are the last words I will ever write about this matter.
EARLIER: Now they are turning up on my doorstep – unannounced – asking to be let in. Why? So they can tell more lies, this time undocumented? If they want to see the balcony, they are almost standing on it.
I guess there is no point in cleaning the balcony today (see video below). I hear a fresh layer of dust descending upon the one from yesterday (see next post).
I just spoke to one of the young people in the WG next to me who was almost in tears. All three are either studying or working from home and keep having to go somewhere else, and they have so far been unsuccessful in obtaining a reduction in rent (despite the fact that the owner of the flat will sooner or later receive compensation, or at least that was promised in a meeting of owners with the Hausverwaltung in spring 2019 – but perhaps that was also a lie, just like the claim that our balconies would not be directly affected).
And still no indication how long this is going to last. But I guess that is better than when they lie and say they have finished when they clearly have not.
One thing I AM beginning to understand: Why many Germans are so suspicious of others.
I sold my parking space, to be handed over to the buyers on 1 August, together with two keys (a contractual requirement) for the entrance door because there is a small box in the basement that goes with the parking space.
When I asked our Hausverwaltung how I could procure those two keys, they said that would be too complicated because I would need a power of attorney, so they would take care of it. Because of one person going on holiday, another taking over, and copy of that e-mail correspondence to a third person, three people were involved in this promise in mid-June, so I thought that surely it would get done. If it had been only one person I might have reminded him or her at some point, but THREE …… I am not used to that kind of suspicion and mistrust.
But lo and behold, it did not get done, and now the only key shop in Berlin that kan make them is on holiday. And I am in trouble because I am in breach of contract.
I am going to bed. Tomorrow, I will think hard to find just one reason why I should stay in this country. Oh, and the small matter of where else to go, of course . And what to do with a flat that can neither be sold nor rented out (the neighbours from Hell – remember?) But right now I just want to drop everything and run.
A very pleasant town, only a good hour by regional train from Berlin, bigger than I thought, with lakes and canals and a river. Like in Berlin, too many private cars, also in the “no car zones”. Several churches, and towers that used to be part of the medieval wall system.
Above: “Loriot’s Dogs“. When Vicco von Bühlow died, a German satirist also known as ‘Loriot’, who was born right here in Brandenburg an der Havel, the city decided to honor him this way.
The Nazi euthanasia programme (T4) was coordinated in Berlin, in Tiergartenstraße 4, on the spot where there is now a memorial, just outside the Philharmonic, Tiergarten entrance.
Equipped with facemasks, I am taking up where I left off here: https://www.hellemoller.eu/2020/02/09/walking-the-berlin-wall-starting-february-2020/. I will no longer follow the book meticulously but rather choose routes where I can get to the starting point and return from the end point using as little public transport as possible, and especially avoid the U-Bahn which is probably a virtual cesspool at the best of times.
23 February – Tour Number 23 in the book – from Schillingbrücke to Checkpoint Charlie
Photos from the (now invisible) border on the Spree to be added later.
Affordable accommodation, green surroundings, yet central, proximity to water, pets allowed.PS: Shame on you, Berlin. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just ask Finland. The first step is to summon the political will.
18 June – Tour Number 13 in the book – from Groß Glienicker See to Sacrow
The walk started at the northern end of Groß Glienicker See where some remnants of the wall can be seen.
Onwards along the western shore of the lake, where it soon became apparent that blocking access to Berlin’s waterways is legal – to my surprise.
I therefore had to make a slight detour through streets with lovely villas in Groß Glienicke, before reaching the southern end of the lake and turning towards the Havel, through forest empty of other droplet-spewing humans.
Wooden houses seem to be coming back in fashion.
There is also, supposedly, a “Skulpturenpfad”, but I only came across two sculptures.
Almost at the Havel, I came across this confusion. I have seen several examples of this, and I hope some day to discover what the secret is. Perhaps something to do with the original “Hinterland Mauer”? I don’t know.
After that, what followed was a long, rather uninteresting walk along the road (which runs along the Havel, more or less, to Sacrow, except you cannot actually see the waterway from the road). There were, however, some points of interest: Memorials for people who died trying to escape from the GDR. The first one you get to is for Rainer Liebeke.
Before getting to that last stop, a visit to the Heilandskirche which I had previously only seen from the world heritage cruise.
I had decided to walk the first bit of the next tour in the book as well, and finish with the water taxi (which turned out to be a joke) from near Heilandskirche to the Wannsee side. At the Heilandskirche stop, there is a time-table indicating the Potsdamer Wassertaxi runs daily, but it turns out that it only runs on weekend. A fact I realised when calling them and getting a voice-mail message after having waited for half an hour. Therefore, do not plan on using them during the week. You might get horribly stuck. Potsdamer Wassertaxi is totally unreliable.
For the continuation, I will skip this experience altogether and pick up on the Wannsee side.
8 May
Part of tour No 16 in the book, starting at Checkpoint Bravo.
. And what to do with a flat that can neither be sold nor rented out (the neighbours from Hell – remember?) But right now I just want to drop everything and run.
